Thanks for the replies, and for the great ideas! I think I'm just organizationally challenged :glare: And I think we have too much stuff.

So many of you have absolutely gorgeous school rooms! Everyone that I've seen looks so opposite of mine. Mine looks like a bunch of junk, and it's not really. It's lots of good stuff but it just looks so messy! I don't know how to start or where to start. My DS is just in kindergarten and we'll be starting 1st grade in a few months so I have a fair amount of HS things already plus lots of the toys for the 2 & 4 year old are in there along with bunches of art supplies, puzzles, games, workbooks, manipulatives, and I could go on. I am very blessed to have a large school room but I just don't know how to organize it. I look at other people's pictures for inspiration and then I go to the school room to try but I just get overwhelmed and have no idea what to do with anything and while I'm trying to organize the kids are making a mess in the other side of the room. How did you figure out how to have a place for everything when things change year to year? How much is too much? It's so easy to get wrapped up in a save-everything-mode because I can use it all for homeschool or preschool (tot trays to keep my younger ones busy). How do you find time to keep your homeschool room clean? I'm SO cramped for time I'd hate to waste valuable school time on cleaning but at the same time I cannot work in a mess and I'm thinking it's the same for the kids so I do keep it somewhat tidy it just looks junky. How do you figure out what bins, drawer units, shelving units to buy? How do you buy all the beautiful shelving units without going broke? Please help - I'm just feel overwhelmed when I go into the school room and that's not the feeling I want to have when I go in there. I've even considered hiring a professional organizer to come and help me but I think the money would be better spent in buying some quality shelves, I just don't know what to buy. Thanks in advance for reading all of this and for any suggestions you might have for me!!

My son just turned 5 and we are almost done with Hooked on Phonics 2nd grade level. I'm not sure if this equals grade 3 in other curricula, I'm just going by what the HOP box says :) This is my first time teaching a child to read so I'm not sure what's next after he learns the basics of how to read. He is young so I don't want to give him anything too advanced and overwhelm him, but I do want to keep going with something since he loves reading, begs to do school and I'd like to expand on what he has learned. I'd appreciate any curriculum suggestions you have and any advice for what the next step would be. Thanks!

Thank you so much! That's exactly what I want to do, just kind of get started in it and introduce it this year. Off to go read your blog... :)

I'd love to get my kids started with some Latin, learning the word roots and such. How early can I start and what is a good curriculum for learning Latin early?

Thanks for the info! I guess I can just stick with the Light Blue for now and hope that there is another co-op sale in a year or two although it almost seems silly to pass up the books when they are only $20 but I really don't need them yet and I guess I should make sure this is the curriculum we are going to use for the long haul before I buy even more things.

When DH and I decided to HS our younger kids, we agreed that learning about the Bible and character building were our top priorities - more important than reading, math, etc. I am doing great teaching the boys the "regular subjects" but I definitely fall short when it comes to Bible and character topics. I know being a good role model is most important but I need a curriculum to use on a daily basis and I'm having trouble finding something suitable for them. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions.

I'm planning to order the Light Blue package and I'm wondering about the Make It Real books. Does anyone know what grade levels they are for?

Wow! Thats a great site, thanks for sharing!

Thank you both! I had originally looked at Elemental Science but I was concerned that it would be too hard for a 5 year old because of the writing shown in the sample but I guess if the material is suitable for the age range I can help him write. I just looked on Amazon at those Usborne books you suggested and they look neat. I wish I could look in side first though, I'm going to check and see if our library has them.

I'd like to include some science things for my kindergartener this coming year. My kids are young but they love to do stuff like this. My problem is I'd really like to find a scripted science curriculum that uses really common household items. Does anything like this even exist? I don't have any time available for prep and I feel like I do so much better when it's all laid out for me. A huge bonus would be if the lessons would be things my preschooler would enjoy helping with or at least watching. Thanks in advance :)

That looks like fun, I signed up my family!

Thanks for the replies - that is a good point about being away from the cleaning and other distractions on purpose :) I do have cleaning times scheduled into my day so maybe it would be for the best to be down there. Can I ask how much time you spend in your school rooms per day?

I'd love to hear about your decision to do a designate a room for school. If you have a separate school room, do you find that many of your school things end up outside the school room? Are you glad you made a separate school room or did you end up just going back to using the kitchen table? I'm considering making a school room in our basement. It's finished and there are windows so I think it will be ok down there. The thing is, many of our things are used in the kitchen when I'm making dinner or cleaning the house. So do they go downstairs or in the kitchen or do I get duplicates? The basement for us is not like I can just run down there because first, there is a baby gate in the way which is a pain, then I have a baby who can't get down the stairs himself and I have to make sure we have all of our supplies before we go down (cell phone in case dh calls, diaper/wipes, binkies, my tea or Diet Coke, etc) so it's sort of a project to even get down there. I do think it would be great to have everything organized in one place though!! I've searched the forum and found some great pictures but if you have a link with pictures of your school room I'd really love to see them for inspiration. Thank you so much for any advice you have for me!

Thank you so much for all the information. I didn't realize how important the extras would be so I'm glad to learn that before I get started with it. I'm excited to get this program, it took me a long time and much research to finally decide which one to go with so I'm hoping I made a good decision. Leslie - thanks for the message, I PM'd you back :) Laura

Hello - I'm new here (this is my first post actually :) ) I've been reading for a while though. I'm getting ready to purchase the Handwriting Without Tears set for my 4yo. I have 2 questions - 1. Do you think I should get the preK set or the K set? My son will be 5 in February. 2. What do you think are the essentials to get with it? There are so many nice additions but I don't want to get things that I could easily make or get cheaply (for example the chalk board... I know I've seen those at the dollar store). Thanks for any advice :) Laura